HGH OUTPATIENT DEPARTMENT

The Outpatient Department at Hamad General Hospital (HGH) is one of the busiest, if not the busiest, department in the hospital. Outpatient visits at Hamad General Hospital have almost tripled during the last twelve years from 154,890 in 1983 to 451,934 in 1997.

The exponential growth in outpatient visits is due largely to the massive increase in population, the introduction of multi-specialty clinics and to the fact that HGH is the country’s only referral hospital.

The burgeoning growth in outpatient visits has highlighted the need to increase the capacity of the Corporation to provide satisfactory treatment to everyone. The Corporation is continually studying how best to provide outpatient care in view of limitations in clinic space and staff.

On the average, the Outpatient Department (OPD) receives about 60-80 referrals daily from the Health Centers. Each patient comes back 4-5 times for the medical follow-ups, according to one study.

An HGH-OPD survey on "Patient Satisfaction with Government Health Facilities in Qatar" revealed that both citizens and non-citizen residents were more satisfied with the services provided at HGH than those at the primary health centers. This satisfaction arises from the perception that HGH-OPD has more able medical specialists capable of providing highly complex care supported by an array of modern diagnostic and therapeutic facilities.

The HGH Outpatient Department collaborate actively with the Primary Health Centers in enhancing their diagnostic and curative skills to handle the ensuing medical follow-ups.

The HGH-OPD last expanded its outpatient treatment capacity in 1992 by transferring the large orthopedics, ophthalmology and ENT clinics to an OPD Annex in the School Health building near the Qatar National Museum.

The HGH-OPD oversees a big number of specialty clinics. In 1983, the OPD had 31 specialty clinics. This rose to 63 specialty clinics and 12 sub-clinical services in the span of 16 years. The number of subspecialties and sub-clinical services has also grown to support the unparalleled growth in the number of patients visits.

Among the recently introduced subspecialty clinics are: Andrology Clinic, Anesthesia Clinic, Trauma Clinic for orthopedic patients, and Osteoporosis Clinic.

Continuous improvement in outpatient services is being undertaken to fulfill the mission of HMC to provide a comprehensive quality health care to all. But crucial to the effective management of the Department is its ability to manage the tide of outpatient visits. In this regard, the new OPD Extension which consists of four floors will solve the problem of space. The new building is expected to be open to the public by the end of August 1999. The pediatric and general surgery clinics moved to the OPD extension early in July of 1999.

The HGH Outpatient Department was restructured in 1996 for better coordination of its related service units. The department now comprises the following sections: Admitting Section, Medical Records, Staff Clinic, and the Outpatient Section.

In line with its thrust to continually improve outpatient service, HGH-OPD conducted a Workshop on Human Relations in September 1997 for 37 staff in all categories. OPD staff learned how to handle outpatients from the various communities and how to improve the staff's communication skills.

High on the agenda of the Outpatient Department is the immediate solution to the scheduling of clinic appointments. Among the points of dissatisfaction that surfaced in the "Patient Satisfaction Survey" conducted in August 1995 was the unduly long waiting period and the over looking of prior clinic appointments. Scheduling of clinic appointments could be done by a computer with a connection to the HMC Intranet.

In October 1997, Management decided to offer evening clinics on Saturdays and Tuesdays for patients too busy to come in the morning. Specialty clinics opened in the evening were Gastroenterology, Chest/Pulmonary, Neurology, Rheumatology, Endocrinology, Diabetes, ENT Surgery, Pediatric Asthma (Chest) and Pediatric Neurology. Patient attendance at these clinics accounted for 17% of the total attendance at HGH OPD in 1996.

Future vision

Consultant Evening OPD Clinics